New details about the January 2025 operation to return the body of Sergeant Major Oron Shaul were revealed for the first time Friday, shedding light on the depth, risks, and deception that were behind one of the most sensitive operations carried out by the security system in the last decade.
Shaul, a Golani fighter who was killed and kidnapped during Operation "Protective Edge" in the summer of 2014, was returned to Israel for burial in January 2025 following an extensive intelligence operation. During this operation, a Palestinian Arab collaborator was activated, a sophisticated abduction was carried out in the heart of Gaza, and extraordinary measures were taken to avoid putting the lives of the hostages at risk.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the critical information that led to the discovery of the body came from a computer seized during a raid in Gaza on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) 2024. This computer revealed internal Hamas communications that identified the person holding the body as a former Hamas member named Ibrahim Hilo.
IDF, Shin Bet, and Military Intelligence forces worked behind the scenes to return the Shaul's body, executing a sophisticated maneuver under complete secrecy, just hours before the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect.
The challenge was twofold: A raid on the house could not be carried out due to the risk to the lives of the hostages, and the information had not been fully verified. Therefore, a deceptive operation was planned, during which Hilo was unknowingly persuaded to act under Israeli influence. Eventually, he was kidnapped to a storage facility where he had been invited, and he was interrogated. Only at a later stage did he admit that the body was being kept in a refrigerator under his house.
To avoid harming the hostages, a Palestinian Arab collaborator was sent to the site. In the late hours of the night, under the cover of intentional artillery fire from the IDF, the collaborator successfully broke into the refrigerator and retrieved the body, which was wrapped in a carpet. After a tense journey on foot, he joined up with an IDF force and extracted the body in an armored vehicle.
On Sunday, January 19, 2025, at 9:00 AM, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect. Several hours earlier, Oron Shaul's body was already in the hands of the IDF. He was buried in a full military ceremony, surrounded by his family, ten and a half years after he fell in battle.